Obama didn't watch PM's speech -- White House

White House spokesman Josh Earnest says “he doesn’t believe” Obama watched Netanyahu’s AIPAC speech earlier.

Earnest, like Netanyahu, affirms the Israel-US ties, and says the relationship has been strengthened under Obama’s leadership.

Addressing Iran, Earnest says: “The United States has made clear that our foreign policy goal is to ensure that Iran does not obtain or acquire a nuclear weapon. That is our goal. It is my understanding that that is a goal shared by the Israeli political leadership as well.”

He is asked by a reporter whether Netanyahu’s visit is “historic,” as the prime minister has described it.

“I would allow the Israeli prime minister the prerogative of describing his trip however he wants, but what is clear is that the president is making decisions about our foreign policy, with the foreign policy interests of the United States at the forefront,” Earnest replies.

“The good news from Prime Minister Netanyahu is that in almost every situation, what’s good for the United States also happens to be good for Israel,” he adds.

White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest speaks during his daily news briefing at the White House in Washington, DC, on December 8, 2014. (photo credit: AP/Jacquelyn Martin)

Earnest says Obama has laid out “a clear strategy” to thwart Iran from obtaining weapons, but Netanyahu hasn’t. He says he’s not sure “even a military strategy” would “accomplish his goal, because it would require not just a detailed destruction of Iran’s infrastructure, but it also would require the removal of knowledge that Iran has already obtained.”

He says the likelihood of reaching a deal “is only at best, 50-50.”

“There are difficult decisions that need to be made by the Iranian government in terms of their willingness to sign on to this agreement, and this president has made clear he’s not going to sign onto a bad deal,” he says.

Earnest says there are still “significant gaps” and says whether the Iranian leadership will sign the deal is “the biggest X factor.”

Earnest also addresses Shmuley Boteach’s New York Times ad against Susan Rice, calling it a “despicable attack.”

He says he was “gratified” to see Netanyahu’s condemnation of the ad.